Rockets rookie guard Amen Thompson sprained his right ankle on Wednesday, with the team ruling him out of the contest shortly after he suffered the injury in the third quarter. According to Ben DuBose of Rockets Wire, head coach Ime Udoka said Thompson suffered a Grade 2 ankle sprain.
Thompson also sustained a Grade 2 left ankle sprain over the summer and that injury had a two-to-four week recovery timetable, according to DuBose, so it’s likely he’s looking at a similar return timeline for this injury.
The No. 4 overall pick is Houston’s primary backup point guard behind Fred VanVleet, so Aaron Holiday absorbed the brunt of Thompson’s minutes following his departure from the game. However, Udoka didn’t turn to Holiday right away, moving Jae’Sean Tate to the backcourt before bringing Holiday in, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle observes (subscriber link). Udoka wasn’t ready to fully commit to the idea of Holiday always being the backup in a three-guard rotation.
“I think we’ll go by committee a little bit,” Udoka said. “I think, the lineup that we had out there, even Amen was out there, we had Jae’Sean as another guy that can initiate, so we do have some guys I can kind of play up or down and fill different roles. We’ll look at it as game-to-game.”
Udoka praised Holiday’s playing ability and said he believed Holiday and VanVleet could play together. Feigen writes that improving the bench play of the Rockets is crucial and playing Holiday may be important to finding a consistent rotation.
“Depending on the team, for sure,” Udoka said. “Teams that have bigger wings, obviously that’ll pose some threats. But Aaron is a guy, similar to his brother, doesn’t have the height of Jrue, but he is a very physical, tough guy that can play on or off the ball. Fred does as well.”
According to Feigen, Udoka said there may be situations where he calls on Reggie Bullock, rookie Cam Whitmore or Tate to fill in some of the backcourt minutes.
Holiday signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Rockets this offseason that has just $1MM guaranteed. If Holiday is on the roster on Jan. 10, that contract will become fully guaranteed.
We have more from the Southwest Division:
Former Rockets two-way guard Trevor Hudgins is signing with French club Le Mans, according to Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia (Twitter link).
Hudgins joined Houston on a two-way contract after going undrafted out of Northwest Missouri State in 2022. He appeared in just five NBA games with the team, playing in 5.6 minutes per contest.
Hudgins had a more productive stint in the G League, where he averaged 18.6 points, 5.8 assists and 1.5 steals in 46 regular season and Showcase Cup games. He was also a strong three-point shooter for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, hitting 38.3% of his 11.5 deep-ball attempts per game, propelling the Vipers to the G League Finals where they eventually fell to the Delaware Blue Coats.
The 6’0″ guard accepted his two-way qualifying offer with the Rockets this offseason but was waived at the NBA’s roster cutdown deadline in October. The Rockets used the two-way slot opened by waiving Hudgins to sign Nate Hinton to a two-way deal.
Hudgins was eligible to sign a two-way deal with another team after being waived, though it’s unclear whether he received any further NBA interest. It’s also possible that his deal with Le Mans comes with more money than a two-way deal, and he gets the chance to be a feature player for the club.
The Wizards are looking to make major renovations to their arena and want public funding to pay for the majority of the bill.
Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Wizards as well as the NHL’s Capitals and WNBA’s Mystics, has asked D.C. for $600MM of public funding to renovate Capital One Arena, Sam Fortier of The Washington Post reports. That’s about 75% of the funds needed to carry out Monumental’s renovation plan. The remaining $200MM would be covered by Monumental, which is owned by chief executive Ted Leonsis.
We have more from the Southeast Division:
Head coach Tyronn Lue said James Harden is in better shape “than I thought it would be” after the new Clippers guard participated in a scrimmage on Wednesday, according to Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times.
“He pushed the pace, he pushed the basketball, made plays for his teammates and he looked really good,” Lue said.
However, Lue realizes that developing chemistry among four ball-dominant players like Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell Westbrook will be an ongoing process.
“When you have four guys that can score the basketball and make plays, you know, this is just gonna be a process understanding our rotations, how we want to play, who we want to have on the floor together,” Lue said.
We have more on the Clippers:
Devin Booker had 31 points and 13 assists in his return to action on Thursday but the Suns’ star guard isn’t a lock to play on Saturday. He’s officially listed as questionable for their game against Philadelphia on Saturday due to a left ankle sprain, Gerald Bourguet of the PHNX Sports tweets. Bradley Beal, who hasn’t played since the preseason, remains out due to lower back spasms.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
It’s a mixed bag in terms of the availability of the players the Sixers acquired in the James Harden deal, Gina Mizell of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets.
Nicolas Batum remains away from the team for personal reasons and coach Nick Nurse is unsure when he’ll return, while Marcus Morris is still ramping up after being out of the Clippers’ rotation. However, Robert Covington and KJ Martin have a chance to be in the Sixers’ rotation for the team’s game against Phoenix on Saturday.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
Hawks rookie Kobe Bufkin has a left thumb fracture suffered during a practice with the team’s G League club, the College Park Skyhawks, on Thursday night, Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal Constitution tweets via a team press release.
Bufkin, a guard out of Michigan, was the first player taken outside the lottery this June. The 15th overall pick has made two cameo appearances with the Hawks.
Bufkin will be reevaluated in two weeks, so he won’t be available for Atlanta in the near future.
While the Hawks aren’t depending on Bufkin this season, it’s still a setback for a player they hope will develop into a starter. Bufkin zoomed up draft boards due to his shooting ability and versatility. He averaged 14.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.3 steals in his second and final season with the Wolverines.
Matas Buzelis, a projected top-three pick in the 2024 NBA draft, tells Sam Yip of HoopsHype that there wasn’t a specific former player for the G League Ignite that influenced him to take that path before becoming draft-eligible — he simply thought it would be the best way for him to prepare for the NBA.
“I picked Ignite because at the end of the day you want to be a professional basketball player – that’s everyone’s goal,” Buzelis said. “So, why take a different route like college where you’re not playing NBA rules? You get to play NBA threes, shot clocks, everything. So it’s pretty much like a cheat code, I’d say.”
Buzelis singled out former NBA shooting guard John Jenkins, currently a member of the Ignite, as the teammate that has stood out the most to him early in his G League stint. According to Buzelis, Jenkins taught him to take care of his body by establishing a training routine, which is something he “didn’t really have” before this year.
“He was in the NBA before for like three NBA teams,” Buzelis said. “He’s like 32 years old and still killing. Taking care of his body and everything. So I take example from him that I can play a long time.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
After missing the last two games due to a sprained left foot, Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving has been upgraded to available for Friday’s game vs. the Nuggets, as first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The Mavericks are the only undefeated team left in the Western Conference, but will face a tough matchup in their first in-season tournament game tonight as they visit the defending champions in the altitude of Denver, so they’ll be happy to have Irving back in their lineup.
Here are a few more injury-related updates from around the NBA:
NOVEMBER 3: The Pelicans have officially signed Robinson-Earl to a two-way contract and waived Gates, the team announced today in a press release.
NOVEMBER 2: The Pelicans are signing forward/center Jeremiah Robinson-Earl to a two-way contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Robinson-Earl, 22, was the No. 32 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. He holds career averages of 7.2 points and 4.9 rebounds in two seasons with the Thunder. Robinson-Earl appeared in 92 games (56 starts) with Oklahoma City. With the Thunder facing a roster crunch this season, they sent him in a trade to the Rockets, who waived him before the season.
According to Charania, the former Oklahoma City forward had standard contract offers elsewhere but chose to sign with the Pelicans for a potential better opportunity.
The Pelicans had all three of their two-way contract spots filled, with Dereon Seabron, Kaiser Gates and Matt Ryan under contract. New Orleans is waiving Gates to make room for Robinson-Earl, according to ESPN’s Andrew Lopez (Twitter link).
Gates signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Pelicans this offseason after averaging 14.0 points per game in the G League with the Long Island Nets last season. He shot 55.4% from beyond the arc on 5.0 attempts per game last year.
While the Pelicans have an opening on their 15-man standard roster, their proximity to the tax meant they were unlikely to convert one of their two-way guys to a standard deal.
In signing Robinson-Earl, the Pelicans are adding more depth to a frontcourt that has been affected by injuries. As a player with extensive NBA experience, it’s possible Robinson-Earl gets playing time right away, much like two-way player Ryan is.
Once Robinson-Earl officially joins the team, the Pelicans will still have three players on two-way deals and 14 players signed to standard contracts.